The currently-used prior art coal-to-liquid fuel production system is generally known as the Fischer-Tropsch coal-to-liquid (herein: FTCTL) fuel process. It is also generally known by those skilled in the art that, while the FTCTL process is chemically effective in producing liquid fuels from coal, the resulting tonnage of carbon dioxide exhaust by-product stream is severely detrimental to environmental air quality, and is a significant contributor to increased levels of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere, which are known to also negatively impact global warming trends.
Additionally, finished fuels generally produced using the FTCTL system are currently constructed to most closely resemble fuel characteristic specifications associated with fossil-derived fuels as Kerosene, Gasoline, Diesel Fuel, and Jet Fuel, which fuels are known to burn at varying levels of efficiency, and are known to produce end-use exhaust by-products such as soot, NOx, and fuel vapor contamination of the atmosphere.
The following stepwise descriptions of the FTCTL production system are intended to most concisely represent the core reactions relating to coal-to-liquids fuel production, and more specifically to outline the reactions especially relating to the problem of CO2 exhaust and finished fuel blending streams, but are not intended to fully represent the entire spectrum of extreme industrial conditions required to produce liquid fuel from coal, or to describe every reaction that occurs in a coal-to-liquids production facility.
Step One of the FTCTL coal-to-liquids production process, is to combust raw coal in an ambient or oxygen-enriched atmosphere to yield heat for heat-reaction production processes, with residual byproducts such as slag and sulphur separated out and used as raw material in related but separate industries; and with gaseous Carbon Dioxide (CO2) exhausted to the external atmosphere.
Step Two of the FTCTL process is to combust raw coal in a low-oxygen atmosphere to produce a gaseous mixture of Hydrogen (H2) and Carbon Monoxide (CO), with the ratio of H2:CO as approximately 0.8:1.
Step Three of the FTCTL process addresses the need to increase the H2:CO ratio from 0.8:1 to 2:1—a requirement for successful hydrocarbon fuel production. This is accomplished by redirecting a portion of Carbon Monoxide (CO) produced in Step Two and catalyzing Carbon Monoxide (CO) with water (H2O) and a metal (generally Nickel) to produce the necessary volume of Hydrogen (H2). Hydrogen (H2) is redirected to the fuels production stream, and CO2 as by-product is exhausted to the external atmosphere.
Step Four of the FTCTL process further reacts the now hydrogen-enriched H2:CO ratio 2:1 mixture to form waxy alcohols, or Olefins.
Step Five of the FTCTL process modifies the olefin stream to produce ‘generic’ hydrocarbon fuel, generally described as ‘Kerosene.’
Step Six of the FTCTL process further reacts Kerosene in a fuel characteristic ‘tailoring’ process to yield finished fuels as Gasoline, Diesel Fuel, and Jet Fuel.